


Miracle Boy

by jkeats



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And a little bit of angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jkeats/pseuds/jkeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh doesn’t know how Herc finds out, just sees him striding down the halls with Max on his heels.</p><p>“Hey, wait a minute!  What happened?” He calls out as he falls into step. </p><p>Herc keeps his eyes forward and says in a voice full of restrained hope, “A miracle.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miracle Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anders](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anders/gifts).



> My friend and I felt like there wasn't enough fic for these two, so we decided to do a bit of a fic exchange. Mine's a bit choppy in style, but I wanted to keep the word count reasonable. (: Comments are welcome.

Raleigh doesn’t know how Herc finds out, just sees him striding down the halls with Max on his heels.

“Hey, wait a minute! What happened?” He calls out as he falls into step. 

Herc keeps his eyes forward and says in a voice full of restrained hope, “A miracle.”

**\+ + + +**

The boy in the operating room isn’t Chuck. It can’t be. There is no conceivable way that this bruised, battered, and broken body was the cheeky dumbass that Raleigh remembered.

And yet, according to the DNA, it's Chuck Hansen. 

**\+ + + +**

Herc is on his knees in front of the hospital bed, head bowed and resting near his son’s hips. “How?” He’d asked, over and over again until he was choked by too many emotions. “No one knows,” the doctor replied, “It’s a miracle.”

**\+ + + +**

“What happened?” Chuck asks, months later when he regains consciousness. The doctors had told them to keep it simple so, “You were in an accident.”

“Oh,” Chuck always replies.

Like clockwork, his thoughtful expression grows more and more troubled until his brows are knit in confusion and he asks, “What happened?” 

Raleigh isn’t sure if he can stomach the heartbreak on Herc’s face anymore.

**\+ + + +**

Raleigh sits with Chuck when Herc can’t. And when Raleigh can’t, Mako takes over. She reads to him in Japanese. Herc can’t get enough words out, just tells him story after story of his childhood (he’s trying to trigger something, Raleigh knows). 

**\+ + + +**

The Thing is, the memory loss hasn’t gone away. Raleigh’s introduced himself dozens of times now. And frankly, it’s bizarre how genuine Chuck sounds when he says, “It’s nice to meet you, are you a friend of Dad’s?”

He finds Herc in the cafeteria, a cup of cold, untouched coffee resting beside him. He scrubs a hand over his face and admits to Raleigh that he hasn’t seen this softer, gentler side of his son since before the first kaiju attack.

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s always been a bugger. A brat through and through, but he was kinder more often, then.”

**\+ + + +**

When Raleigh talks with Chuck, it’s about Stupid Stuff. Mostly comics that he buys at the gift shop or movies they rent on the TV. But every once and a while, when Chuck’s memory holds out long enough, they start to talk about Important Stuff. 

Raleigh talks about Yancy more than he has in years. Chuck tells him about a childhood spent moving constantly, at first just because his dad was in the military but then when he became a Ranger.

Raleigh finds himself feeling sorry for Chuck, all he had was a string of pets to keep him company growing up. He remembers thinking all Chuck needed was a kick in the ass, maybe he’d been wrong. 

Until. “What happened?”

**\+ + + +**

Things with Mako are organic, constantly changing. And although they both harbour intense feelings for each other, it hasn’t quite translated into a romantic relationship. The attraction is there, of course, but there’s something holding both of them back.

So when Mako spots Raleigh flipping through one Chuck’s comics, she settles beside him, head on his shoulder and asks what’s wrong.

“Will he ever remember?”

“I’m sure, one day.”

“How?”

“Because he’s alive. And that’s a miracle.”

**\+ + + +**

Chuck wakes from a nightmare, sweating and terrified. His hands fist in the blankets as he chokes back sobs.

“What’s wrong?” Raleigh is by his side in an instant, smoothing his hair back from his face with one hand and groping for the nurse call button with the other.

“I . . . I don’t know, what happened?”

“You were having a bad dream, I think.”

“Oh. Who are you?”

Raleigh’s heart aches and feels all at once exhausted.

“Your friend, Raleigh.”

Chuck relaxes and slips their fingers together. The click of heels announces the nurse, but Chuck’s eyes are on Raleigh’s, “Stay with me?”

Raleigh tightens his grip, “Okay.”

**\+ + + +**

The first thing Raleigh registers is his stiff back and neck. The next is the hand he’s holding struggling to free itself.

“Becket, what the hell?” Comes Chuck Hansen’s annoyed huff.

Raleigh opens his eyes and his smile is pure relief. 

**\+ + + +**

Herc nearly punches his son, he’s so ecstatic. Max may have peed. But only a little bit.

**\+ + + +**

Bit by bit, Chuck’s memories during his recovery trickle back. 

One day, he’s banging on Raleigh’s door, crutches wedged under his arms and a wild look on his face.

“What happened?” he demands when a sleepy, shirtless Raleigh opens the door.

For a moment, Raleigh looks stricken, but then Chuck continues.

“What changed? You told me you loved me.”

“You remember?” Raleigh’s eyes get impossibly wide, and his heart lurches with hope.

“Yeah, but I don’t get it. Mako . . . ?”

Raleigh grins; he can’t help it, and tugs Chuck into his room.

“I love her too, just differently. You can do that, you know, love more than one person. You’re allowed.”

Chuck’s gaze keeps dropping to Raleigh’s lips because _honestly_. Other than that, he remains silent.

“What else do you remember?” Raleigh prompts gently.

Panic swells briefly, but Chuck swallows it down. He’s a ranger, after all.

“I remember seeing _Gipsy Danger_ on my tv as a kid, just starting out in the program. I remember seeing you and your brother and wanting more than anything to be like you. I remember meeting you, god, and feeling things, and your voice, Jesus, how do you get your voice to do that thing?”

Raleigh rolls his eyes, leans forward, and whispers, huskily, “What thing? This thing?”

And then Raleigh’s pressing cautious and chaste kisses across Chuck’s jaw and saying things like, “You snuck up on me,” and “God, when I thought you were dead, I-“ and “Why’d you have to go and redeem yourself.” He’s never felt so loved.

**\+ + + +**

(Things aren't so chaste after that.) 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to say Hi on tumblr jkeats.tumblr.com/ask.


End file.
